 The Armenians are (the self-name is the Khay) the basic population of Armenia. Armenia is the basic country of residence: here lives 3084 thousand of the Armenians. In other countries of residence: USA - 700 thousand persons, the Russian Federation - 532 thousand persons, Georgia - 437 thousand persons, France - 270 thousand persons, Iran - 200 thousand persons, Syria - 170 thousand persons, Lebanon - 150 thousand persons, Turkey - 150 thousand persons etc. The Armenian language belongs to the Indo- European family of languages. The Religion is basically the Christianity of the Monofizits kind. The Christianity has become official religion of the Armenians in 301 AD). A small part of the Armenians in foreign countries are the Catholics and Protestants.
The Armenian settlements were created in territory of Russia during the different historical periods. The settlements were constantly replenished with compatriots from Armenia. In 1801-1828 East Armenia became the part of Russian Empire. Before the First World War overwhelming majority of the Armenians (about 4 million persons) was compactly living in the territory of historical Armenia: about 1,5 million persons in Russia, the others - in Turkey. During the most severe genocide in 1913-1922 authorities of the Osman Empire killed one million of the Western Armenians. Only 300 thousands of them have found a refuge in Russia, in East Armenia.
Since 1936 Armenia is the republic in the Soviet Union. At the end of 1980th relations with the republic of Azerbaijan have worsened because of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. There were armed conflict and economic blockade. After disintegration of the USSR, Armenia is the independent state (December, 1991).
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